ph_logs | Mingle - Emergency Potluck

Entry tags:

bulletin

Mingle - Emergency Potluck

Pumpkin Hollow Community Bulletin

Main Nav | Permanent Bulletin | Calendar |

WELCOME POTLUCK

Greetings, residents! Those more observant sorts among you may have noticed a large influx of very crowded ferries. In order to welcome our new residents en masse, Town Hall is holding a potluck in Town Square. Please bring a dish if you are able and make a new friend!

All of our newest arrivals need only bring themselves. We look forward to welcoming you all into our community, and may your lanterns always be lit.

This event is open to all! In light of our new influx of prospective players following the Great Sail Migration, we've decided to offer a small public event to tide everyone over until the TDM this weekend.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"...but have you eaten?"

His concern is gentle, and very warm for a corpse, as he gives Max puppy dog eyes.

"I have. A little." For all that he loves to cook, sometimes he forgets to actually eat when he's too nervous or distracted.

Oh no. Those eyes. It's like having his own powers used against him.

"I... guess it wouldn't hurt to take another break."

"Maybe we could eat together? I'm seeing some things on the table I've never had before. So we can get some and sit down and try them. Yeah?"

Angel has no shame in wielding this Dread Power.

Is this what he's been doing to people?

"Sure, that sounds nice. What are you interested in trying? If you don't care too much about sharing germs, we can just eat off the same plate."

"Germs?" There's a sputtering little dismissive laugh. "Not a concern for me. But uh...I saw some desserts I don't recognize? I wasn't able to eat, before arriving here, so. There's a lot I don't know."

"Oh, I guess I should have figured as much. I can, um, kind of tell you're not exactly human but I didn't want to be rude and ask what your whole deal is. If you feel like telling me, though, I'm curious. And, also, I'll talk your ear off about desserts if you let me."

"Desserts? Oh, please? Can you help me? I...like foods that taste enough for me. Like, spicy, sour, fermented. A bowl of plain mashed potatoes is hell to me, and like. I imagine vanilla ice cream would be the same. But I haven't really dug into, um. What desserts there are, that I might like?"

That isn't at all a refusal to discuss his nature, it's just prioritization in action.

Max is vibrating so hard he looks like he's about to blast off like a bottle rocket. This is his Moment.

"You've come to the right place, uh...oh my god, I haven't even asked your name yet. I'm so sorry."

"I'm Angel. Nice to meet you...?"

Because belated introductions sometimes just happen. He even offers a cold, lifeless hand to shake.

"It's very nice to meet you, Angel. Call me Max." He takes Angel's hand and shows no sign of surprise at all from the temperature. Max's own grip is warm and strong, but he keeps the contact cordially brief.

"Okay. So, you like strong tastes, huh. You're not actually the first person I've met who needs that to be able to taste. It looks like we have some good options here except for..." Max spots that pan of ""fudge"" on the corner of the table and clandestinely lifts it and sets it in the grass under the table. "Not this one. But this fudgy looking chocolate cake here might be just your style."

"But Erik made that one." Angel gives Max a wide-eyed look when he sets the fudge under the table. Clearly there's fondness there, a deep well of warmth.

Max winces. "Yeah... he did. Um..." Shit, how much should he admit to?

"The thing is, I really care about Erik. I don't want him to get embarrassed but... that fudge is not right. I don't want anyone to get sick. Can you keep a secret for me? I'm going to go scrape the pan out and put it back so it looks like it all got eaten."

"I don't want to keep secrets from Erik. He's been really good to me. Taught me a lot."

Surprise, Max, this is how you learn Erik adopted a corpse.

"I'm really glad he has people who care about him like you do but I'm just trying not to hurt his feelings, you know? It's just a little white lie. I um. I've known him for a long time myself." Which doesn't add up with the fact that Max is new here, does it?

"A long time? Then...you must come from the same world as him?"

That's a little startling for Angel to hear. Distracts him from desserts entirely.

"Yeah. I do. I used to live in his house, actually, for seven years. It's a long story. Apparently, in all that time, he didn't pay enough attention to how I make fudge because this is not how that's supposed to taste at all."

"Oh! You were like his roommate or something? Or..."

Or...Angel can't blush, but he can certainly suddenly look quite bashful.

"Well...."

Long awkward pause.

"I was more like his live-in servant. But we also did, um, have a pretty intimate relationship."

"Oh."

Angel doesn't seem to know how to even respond to that. But not for the same reason as the Serena Eterna crowd. He eyes Max and then just...nods. Really, at the end of the day, it isn't his business, is it?

"Is that a good 'oh' or a bad one?" Max asks anxiously.

"It's not a bad one. I mean, a lot of people have intimate relations with him here, he's a whore. I kinda just don't go out of my way to find out who, because he's like family to me or something."

"Oh. Crap. Sorry, I made it weird."

Like family? Max can't help but sneak a glance over at Erik. He didn't... he wouldn't?

"He's not, um. He didn't turn you here, did he?"

"No? No. No, he didn't. I've been dead all along. I've always been dead. I mean, the body--my body, he'd have me say--was alive at one point, but it's not now, and I'm not, either. Okay?"

Defensive, both because he's protective of Erik and doesn't want him to get into trouble, but also because he's always explaining this, what he is. And often doing it poorly, sometimes on purpose.

"Okay. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I just... he's been kinda different since I got here and I don't..." Max attempts to shut his mouth around the words but they force their way free before he can stop them. "He was like family to me, too. And now he's not."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

[not here]